Saturday, December 10, 2005

Had the gang over for this one, as you can see. Funny thing is, I was wearing my lucky NHL tie for the game, only to realize late in the third that it had every team logo except the Oilers'. No sooner than I throw it to the ground and stomp on it, Pronger pulls a beautiful pinch to salvage a point. (Lady Luck is a fickle mistress: later I actually found an Oilers logo on the back of the tie, perhaps explaining the S/O loss)

Make no mistake, Oilers fans without NHL Centre Ice, this game was a dud -- you didn't miss much (my pal Christie spent most of the game flipping through a J. Crew catalogue and later taking a nap).

The Oilers held a lacklustre Islanders team to 4 shots till about midway in the second, only to squander their own chances on the PP. They got one late, to go 1 for 9 on the night, but the PP was flaccid all game. We all know the drill: Pronger deftly passes to either Bergeron or Stoll for the one-timer that doesn't happen, maybe even dishing it to Horcoff on the wing, and then they pass it back to him, moving around the perimeter until they run out of time. You know the Oilers' PP is slumping when no one seems to move more than 5 feet from their set positions, which is easy to defend against with a passive box. It looked bleak until the late PP Pronger pinch, since the Islanders just aggressively pressured the point, knowing we don't have the elite playmaking hands down low. Hemsky needs to move and get the puck more, and Pronger has to shoot at least once if we're gonna score.

A squandered point that might haunt us later in the season? Perhaps. If they win in Jersey it will be easier to forget about. But at least we're not the Islanders. Can you imagine being a fan of this enigmatic bunch, with Yashin as your captain? I like most of what I've seen from Dipietro, and Aaron Asham and Jason Blake are sparkplugs, but this team has always been a refuge for underacheivers. Playing in front of 3,786 people might have something to do with it.

* Interesting: Peca got sort of a standing ovation (for being the first Islander to actually live in Long Island, I guess). He stood and did a little wave, so I guess he wasn't completely a bum in NY as some of us think. "It was nice,'' Peca said. "It really wasn't necessary, but it was nice. That's an indication of what kind of man (Islanders owner) Charles (Wang) is and what kind of organization they are.''* We rewound the tape to see which Oilers failed to knock gloves with Pee Wee players waiting to play the kiddie intermission game: Hemsky, Laraque(!), and Peca.

* Laraque and Torres both win early fights. Can anyone beat Laraque? * Markkanen made the save of the season against Blake (I think), with a sliding crease glove hander. His best game of the year?

THE HATED FLAMES:

* Does Calgary ever score more than 3 goals a game? Basically, not really. They get an average of 2.37 a game, runner up to the league worst Blue Jackets! Scoring depth, my ass. Without Kipper this team would be well below .500. I hate them so much!

4
comments:

1) It is my turn to be durnk. I am sacamano and I will punch you in the mouth!

2) Le GG got a draw at best.

3) Your ass. of our pp is dead on. Man they suck. The best part was how pissed off Pronger looked at the end of regulation when they had 1+ min of pp with no shots on net. At least he showed some emotion. How is it possible that Craig Simpson is anything more than a carpet salesman? It is inexplicable.

4) I'm not sure whether to be happy we got a point or pissed that we didn't get two. Given the number of powerplay chances, we should have crushed them; but given the fact that we were down 2-1 with 2 mins to go, I guess you have to be happy about the single.

5) Are you kidding me that you wear your tie that far below your belt? Also, are you wearing a suit jacket at home?

I don't quite get get the deference Pronger gives to Stoll and Bergeron. He averaged around 2.5 shots a game in St. Louis most of his career. This year, 37 shot in 30 games. Then again, the guy he played the PP point with in St. Louis was a total hack who couldn't have broken a wet paper bag with his shot. I have no idea how that guy scored 340 goals in his career.